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SNP's "petty ideology" standing in way of new Forth Bridge
December 10, 2009 11:30 AM
Alex Salmond's "petty ideological games" are standing in the way of the new Forth Road Bridge, according to West Fife MP Willie Rennie who criticised the First Minister after it was revealed his own economic advisers had urged him to change course and use private finance to pay for the £2billion replacement bridge.
The call, by the Council of Economic Advisers set up by the First Minister, contradicts the Scottish Government's policy of using public funding to pay for Scotland's biggest-ever infrastructure project.
John Swinney, the Finance Secretary, had said last January that a public-private partnership deal for the bridge would have represented value for money. Mr Rennie is now calling on the SNP to abandon their ideological obsession and secure the funding arrangements.
Commenting Mr Rennie said:
"Progress towards a settled and secure funding package for the Forth Road Bridge has been delayed for too long by Alex Salmond's petty ideological games, which have stood in the way of a perfectly feasible way of getting this bridge built.
"The path has been clear for some time for the Scottish Government to adopt a value for money public-private partnership deal for the Forth Bridge. With even Alex Salmon's own economic advisers now urging him to change course, it's crucial that the First Minister's blinkered intransigence is now overcome.
"I'm appealing to Alex Salmond to look at all the options to sort out the funding arrangement. Businesses, commuters and car users in Fife need certainty, and soon."
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